Out of This World Coding: Year 6 Codes Run in Space!

In June this year, the Year 6 students from Junior School Vlaskamp (JSV) got exciting news: the Python code they submitted for the Mission Zero Challenge was run in space!

Mission Zero Challenge

The Mission Zero competition allows young people to have their custom code run in space on an Astro Pi computer on board the International Space Station. These images are displayed for the astronauts as they go about their tasks and serve to brighten their days!

This year's Mission Zero theme was 'Flora and Fauna', which was particularly meaningful to the JSV students, who have worked hard on their Power to the Pond project this year and have all participated in an eco-themed collective artwork to raise awareness about sustainability. 

Examples of some of the Year 6 code that was run on the International Space Station

Ms Cosgrove said,

"The Year 6s were thoroughly engaged with the Astro Pi Competition and worked very hard on some tricky Python coding. It was a great application to teach the children different Python skills, and it was thrilling to see how they really rose to each challenge and eventually got their code run in space! It's not something many people can get to say.

We used this as a good starting point for our work on Python, and although the competition is now over, the Y6s are continuing to learn more about this powerful programming language.

A great grounding for further study in secondary school.'

Building the Students' Computing Skills and Knowledge 

During Computing, the Year 6 students were introduced to the Mission Zero challenge and, over a series of lessons, learned what an Astro Pi computer is, how to program the grid of LEDs by setting its RBG value, looping, indenting, and finally working individually or as a team to create and submit an efficient and functional code for the competition.  

RGB Reference Codes

Students Reflect on Their Learning 

Annabelle, a Year 6 student, reflected:

'It probably isn't something everyone can do, so it was great to get the chance.

I enjoyed learning how to make different shapes of colour by using RGB codes. It was fascinating setting the colours in variables and then changing the colours with the Raspberry Pi sensor data.

I would definitely do another Astro Pi coding competition in the future.'

Theo, a fellow Year 6 student, added:

'It was fun to make the code and test it on the emulator so you could check for any errors and see if you liked the output on the LED matrix. But it was cool that you got to find out when the code was run on the ISS  and where the ISS was in orbit over the Earth.

Coding with Python wasn't easy, but it was fun learning it. Each week we worked on the competition, we learnt a new Python function or skill, and it was fun to add each of these to our code.

The Sky's the Limit

Congratulations to all of the Year 6 students on this fantastic achievement! We can't wait to see how you develop your skills in Senior School next year.